


The Fanfic Question

by puckity



Category: General Fandom Culture
Genre: Fandom Culture, Gen, Meta, Transformative Works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-06-09 11:10:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6903424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puckity/pseuds/puckity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief essay on the (often uncomfortable) frictions between fan creators, media creators, and fandoms themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fanfic Question

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [my Tumblr](http://puckity.tumblr.com/post/99165693876/the-fanfic-question) on 10/4/14.
> 
> You can follow me [there](http://puckity.tumblr.com/) too, if you want!

**UPDATE [10/4/14]:** This post was first conceived of and started over the summer; since then there have been numerous rehashes of the issues that are being discussed here (in the SPN and Teen Wolf fandoms, to name a few). Although this is no longer necessarily front page news, I think the points raised herein remain salient and relevant.

—

Post-Philly Wizard World 2014, I saw a familiar sentiment/complaint/rant being circulated amongst certain tags and blogs and sites that I lurk around—the ire against the fanfic question. It seems that a young fan started to ask **Captain America: The Winter Soldier** ’s Anthony Mackie ( _Falcon_ ) and Sebastian Stan ( _Winter Solider_ ) their [thoughts on fanfiction during a panel](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DW62GzDcOrzo&t=YTRjNWI0MmE3MWE4ODliM2YwNzMxMDMzY2I1MDc0N2YzYWU1Njg2MixvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D), with the specific implication of slash fanfiction featuring their fictional counterparts (though not necessarily together). This prompted not only an immediate and visceral reaction from the crowd in attendance (boos and jeers) but also a general sidestepping of the question by the two actors, who turned their answers towards addressing the anonymous nature of online interactions and the ways in which it can create a harmful environment (in terms of cyber-bullying and lack of accountability). As discussions of the con started to crop up and videos/testimonials began being uploaded, the consensus seemed to be two-fold: 1) Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan handled an awkward question well and not only salvaged an uncomfortable situation but turned it around to make a positive, if not only tangentially-related, point, and 2) that fan should have known better—why do “people” keep asking/doing these kinds of things and making all of fandom look crazy/delusional/bad? I put scare quotes around people because what is meant—and often explicitly said—in these reactions is “fangirls”. The stereotype of the rabid fangirl*—socially-stunted, aggressively defensive about their favs/ships, uncaring of whether or not they are “shoving” their “preferences” in other people’s faces—has been rampant since at least as long as I’ve been around in fandom, and I’m sure since fandom itself became a thing.

_[*Fangirls—in the pejorative, stereotyped sense—do not always self-identify as female; this label is often one put on certain kinds of fans and based on gendered (mis)assumptions. Discussions of trans and non-binary fans and their experiences in fan space (as well as the mis/labeling they encounter) are a complex and important ones that should be had. Unfortunately, for the scope of this diatribe that won’t be covered in anywhere near the depth it requires. But I am, at least, aware of the problematics of asserting a binary onto people who may identify along (or beyond) a spectrum.]_

It’s incredibly patronizing for me to play the “I’ve been in fandom _so long_ ” card, particularly when I have no real idea of the average age of any of the people who might stumble across this post. So cards on the table: I’ve been in online fandom(s) since about 2001 when the _Lord of the Rings_ films sucked me in like the monsters they are. As anyone can see by browsing my old journal, my posted fics, or just a lot of my posts/reblogs in general—I am a fem/slasher and have been since probably around the time I discovered something like that existed (which was also around the time I started to realize that I wasn’t straight). I joined LiveJournal when it was all shiny and new and rode it through its rollercoaster of shenanigans and platform wars. Then I lived abroad for five years and things like Tumblr and Twitter and Instagram and Snapchat happened and I may or may not have spent the better part of a year both catching up and coming to terms with the fact that I’ve become “fandom old” in some respects and don’t get/don’t care about some of the fancy new gizmos kids are playing with these days. That’s not a judgment call at all; if anything, trying to reenter fandom through new mediums like Tumblr has served to remind me of the lasting similarities across all fan space iterations.

I’ve shuffled through multiple fandoms over the past 13 years, been more active in some than others, and (when I wandered outside of slashlandia) have lurked amidst certain areas of fan culture that are less forgiving than others. I’m referring to sites like the now-defunct LJ community **deletrius** (probably the most prolific of the old “sporking” comms that would basically MST3K badfics), [**Fandom Wank**](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.journalfen.net%2Fcommunity%2Ffandom_wank%2F&t=ZjU4M2FhMGFmYjY5MTNjMTljYzI1YTllZTNjZjhiNTI1ZDI0NDEzOCxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D), and **Oh No They Didn’t!** (which I’m not going to link to here because for real they don’t need the traffic boost). These sites—and all the many others like them—run on equal parts irreverent humor, fannish appreciation, and a tenuous (not always successful) balancing act of calling out problematic behavior amongst fans and celebrities alike while trying not to slip into wank and ridiculousness themselves. There are strata of Tumblr that operate like this and I’m sure that a topical examination of any fandom-centric space would reveal the same trends. It’s one of those the-more-it-changes-the-more-it-stays-the-same things.

This isn’t a judgment call either. I was looking through my old journal and ran across some posts I’d made way back when that where grappling with the existence of sporking/mocking comms and I was struck by how naïve I sounded. But I was also struck by something else in my rhetoric—something that I shared with these comms even before I started participating in them—and something that is at the root of the problematics of issues like the fanfic question: Even as I attempted to analyze more productive (in my mind) ways of engaging with the fan behaviors that these comms were mocking, I was simultaneously shaming the fans who exhibited them—myself included.

Way back when [tumbleweeds blow across the screen] fem/slash was much more—scandalous is I guess the word I’m looking for? I mean, there were still tons of fans but the backlash (you know, the “why can’t you just accept friendship and not ruin it why are you trying to pervert something with your sick sexual fantasies geez” argument) was more commonplace that it seems to be nowadays…from my admittedly non-extensive and often-fringe perspective. It seems like now it is much more commonplace for fans, even if they don’t like fem/slash at all, to at least be civil about it and to acknowledge that fem/slashers may not _all_ be frothing, raving lunatics. Like attitudes towards sexuality and gender identity/expression, there has been a very noticeable shift in (average) attitudes towards fem/slash over the course of the decade (not that THAT is a parallel I want to pursue; fandom fantasies versus real-world identity politics and policies is an extremely fraught subject that would require a whole other post to even scratch the surface of). Fans (who participate in the sections of fandom that produce fanfiction/fanart) seem to be more blasé about fem/slash than they were before. There are, of course, still huge swaths of fandom that are vocally antagonistic/abusive towards fan writers/artists in general but those appear to also —unfortunately—be similar to what I encountered as a fandom newbie.

Along with evolving attitudes towards fem/slash there has also been an increasing number of conversations about intersectionality between issues of racism, classism, sexism, cultural appropriation, (de)colonialization, heterosexism, homo/bi-phobias, transphobia, misogyny, transmisogyny, ableism, and a whole range of other social justice topics. People who initiate these discussions within fandom seem to be derisively termed “Social Justice Warriors (SJW)” by certain subsets of fans, but I for one deeply appreciate the ways in which these dialogues are happening on a much larger scale and with much more thoughtfulness than I ever saw 13 years ago. That’s not to say that there weren’t fans who cared about and championed for these discussions back then, but again, it seems to be occurring on a much more widespread and accepted/expected scale now.

This upswing in critical fandom analysis seems to have opened the proverbial door to a new type of relationship between fans and actors/creators, one that is marked by greater skepticism and more willingness to question/challenge creator choices that—in the past—may have been excused and/or begrudgingly accepted. The rising awareness of topics like [queer-baiting](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.autostraddle.com%2Fhow-do-we-solve-a-problem-like-queerbaiting-on-tvs-not-so-subtle-gay-subtext-182718%2F&t=ZGM1ZjI4YjUzYzRlN2MyMzY5NGM0YmNmMDgwODFlNGIzMDQyMjllMSxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D) and [racebending](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.racebending.com%2Fv4%2F%29&t=MjU0YmM3MzNmMDBmNzkxNDRmMTg2MjIwOTc1YTA5OTY1NDVjNjY2ZCxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D) has prompted dialogues amongst fans and with actors/creators, albeit with mixed responses from all parties. **So I am as clear as** **I** **possibl** **y can be** **:** **T** **hese and many other media visibility/representation-based issues continue to be a serious problem for a multitude of underrepresented groups and, although I consider these fandom conversations to be a positive step, the way that fans and consumers interact with them is still deeply problematic—absolutely nothing is “solved” just by acknowledging it as an issue and nothing will be solved until significant systemic change is put into effect.**

But these shifting relationships—particularly in the fans’ _perception_ of the relationship—between fans and actors/creators has also started to erode previous barriers of “appropriate distance” and has led to contentious, sometimes scary, intra-fandom conflicts. I put appropriate distance in scare quotes because there seems to be a nostalgic idea (as there is with many things) that fan behavior has become more outrageous and less defensible now than it was X years ago. I won’t rehash arguments about [Beatles’ fans](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmusic%2F2013%2Fsep%2F29%2Fbeatlemania-screamers-fandom-teenagers-hysteria&t=OGY1MDIxNjEzMzI5NzcxNzE1ZTVjN2JjMjZmZDE0OWUwZWM0NzZhNCxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D) or [Arthur Conan Doyle fans](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fblueblackinkbooks.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F05%2F15%2Fthe-author-the-fan-and-the-great-detective-reading-the-sherlockian%2F&t=MzkwNDAwODM3Nzc5ZjVmYzlhNjUxYjE5OTQ2Yjc1NzQ0NzY0MjJjOCxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D) or [Edmund Kean fans](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEdmund_Kean%23Private_life&t=ZWNkYmNiNzc1NTI4ODViNjM0Nzc4Y2M1ZTkxNDRkOWNlMjdkYWY0NixvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D) because, quite frankly, I don’t think they’re ultimately relevant to what we’re talking about here. Yes, some fans take on the persona of the fanatic. Some fans go a little (or a lot) crazy, invest too much (and what is “too much?”) of their time/effort/money into their obsessions, neglect real life relationships and responsibilities, start to detach from the reality of their own lives and reattach into the reality of their fandom.** But these are—arguably—all personal choices that affect the fan themselves primarily (and the other people in their own lives secondarily). They don’t affect the actors/creators or the fandom itself.

_[**To say nothing of the complications raised in the notion of “fanatic” by the myriad of responses to and reasons for fannish behavior—both self-positive and self-detrimental—that fans with mental health and well-being issues bring to the table.]_

Then there are the fans who make choices that do affect the actors/creators. Those who invade personal space, accost, assault, harass, and/or stalk. Those actions and the fans that perpetrate them are rightly derided across fandoms at large, though sometimes (and depending on who the perpetrator is and who the victim is) they are not always condemned as strongly as they should be.

But between those two extremes of fanaticism (internally-vectored and externally-vectored) is that awkward gray area that usually seems to bear the brunt of fandom’s ire. It is the awkward, sometimes uncomfortable and/or embarrassing interactions between fans and creators that are not intended maliciously but still manage to hit most people’s DO NOT WANT button. Certain types of gifts, certain requests (or demands), certain confessions, certain questions. Like the fanfic question. It’s not a criminal or clinically insane thing to do, but the consensus among fans seems to be that there are some questions that you just don’t _ask_ , some things that you just _don’t talk about_. Only that we _do_ talk about them, in an increasing number of situations and spaces (including conventions, academia, mainstream media, etc.). But there is a specific _way_ we have to talk about them, and that changes drastically according to the venue. And for some actors/creators, the idea seems to be that _they_ can open the discussion (via explicit intra- and/or extra-textual remarks, for example) but it is ultimately a one-sided conversation that frequently ends up being a joke at the fem/slash fans’ expense.

A recent-ish example of the kind of meltdown these fraught fan-actor-creator interactions can spark off was at [a con for the TV show “Supernatural”](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailydot.com%2Fsociety%2Fjensen-ackles-homophobia-supernatural-fandom%2F&t=YTQ4NjYzOGY5YTI2NjEyNjliZGI1OTViYjJmNTMxNjc4MDgxNTQzNyxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D). [I’m not implying any commentary about this show or its fans; this was simply one of the better-documented instances within the past year.] Now there are a lot of things at play here: Was the fan/fandom being disrespectful of an actor’s stated request? (Would they treat a similar request made by a non-famous person in their lives equally dismissively?) Was this a case of unwarranted fan entitlement? Was the actor’s request appropriate, or was it perpetuating the toxic trend of no-homoing? Are male-identified fans/actors/creators feeling threatened by what they might perceive as objectification—the same objectification that they frequently submit non-male-identified characters/fans/actors to? Is fandom quicker to defer to a [male actor/creator (or fan)’s](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trickster.org%2Fsymposium%2Fsymp181.htm&t=NjkwZWFjZTQ2MzVjOGUxOWI3MWMxYmM3OTM2MzlhYmJlNDlkNjkwNyxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D) [point of view](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.doctornerdlove.com%2F2011%2F11%2Fnerds-and-male-privilege%2F&t=NjQxYTc1NzdjMjgwZGZlNWY4MTYxNzZmMDU2Y2JlMWU3YjkzYWM5YSxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D)—is that an internalization of male privilege? What motivates people to be fans of fem/slash, and what motivates certain fans to want to engage in particular types of dialogue about it?***

 _[**_ _*This last question could (and should) be a separate post of its own, because there are almost as many reasons for liking fem/slash as there are fem/slash fans and (nearly) all of them are valid. There are important discussions happening about[fetishization in fem/slash](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fladygeekgirl.wordpress.com%2Ftag%2Fslash-fanfiction%2F&t=YjE0NjZkNzIxZmJiZDgyYTMwNWUwOGYyMGU5MGRhNDY5MGNkYzBiZSxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D)_ _that should be considered by all fem/slashers, but the insinuation that liking fem/slash needs to somehow be a philosophically enlightened and/or socially conscious move is ridiculous. Lots of people like fem/slash because it’s sexy and appealing, and that is **okay**. And lots more people like fem/slash because it is a combination of both fun-sexy and serious-sexy; that is, it touches on both entertainment and a medium for exploring deeper issues (including but not limited to gender expression/identity and sexuality) that affect everyone’s daily lives._ _]_

It is that point—the various reasons for liking fem/slash—coupled with the fact that fem/slash is often relegated to the “fangirl” realm (regardless of the actual gender non/make-up of the fanbase), that finally brings me back to what started this whole essay: The fanfic question and its response. I don’t know the person who asked that question at Philly Wizard World; I don’t know what their motivations were or what it is that they like about fem/slash. And I’ll be honest, the possible responses to that question hit such a visceral squirm-out-of-your-chair soft horror button within me that I could only watch the video once—so I haven’t gone back and minutely analyzed the wording/facial expressions/body reactions. My gut reaction is one of intense fan shame; intense shame for something that I truly enjoy. Something that turns me on sexually—not just as a person, but as a usually _female-identified person_. Something that I participate in creating, something that I and many other [non-male-identified people author](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fjprstudies.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F01%2FFSORTIPOCAFR_Morrissey.pdf&t=N2JmOTRhYjNjYWY0ZDY0NjY5MGVkOWQ5ODE5Y2IxNWQwODQzNjkyNSxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D), [a free labor](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fmuse.jhu.edu%2Fjournals%2Fcinema_journal%2Fv048%2F48.4.de-kosnik.pdf&t=M2M0ZDZkYTY2ZDk1NmZiOWYzZWM1YThkNTYyZWJkNTUyYmQ1YWZlOSxvVk9mNnNIeg%3D%3D) that creators profit from in ways that many fans rarely consider. And something that resonates with my struggles to unpack my own identities.

The fanfic question is about intention, about context, about the right approach. Sometimes it’s about the hope for cheap fanservice or ship teasing, but I think that more often than not it’s about something more. The fan at the SPN con said that she was seeking a possible affirmation of a bisexual viewer’s experience and interpretation, based off of how certain characters and scenes had resonated with her. The fan at Philly Wizard World lamented that her question—and, implicitly, her fan experience—had been publically dismissed. So why, in a roomful of often majority non-male, non-100%-straight fans, do these instances incite vocal support for the actors/creators and vocal humiliation for the fan peers?

The truth is, the fanfic question is always going to be an awkward one. There will always be actors/creators who are staunchly not open to that discussion, and there will be others who fall into varying shades of uncomfortable, confused, annoyed, and well-meaning but ill-equipped to talk about it. Some will pander to the delighted shrieks of fans as they tease at homoeroticism with no intention of treating it as anything more than a convenient trick to keep people interested in their product. Some will endorse it, some won’t. Some will give very politically correct, dodging answers and others will be more candid. And no answer will please everyone, because at its core fem/slash is about a lot of complex issues all tangled up with one another. And we as fans cannot change actor/creator responses any more than we can predict them (although that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to call out problematic ones) because they are _people_ with feelings and opinions of their own, just like us, and we are all entitled to those (to a certain extent).

But what we can change is how fandom, especially fem/slash fandoms, react. Because why shouldn’t we talk about female and trans and non-binary sexuality? Why shouldn’t we talk about queer experiences and how they are being represented in the media—and if they _aren’t_ being represented, then why shouldn’t we talk about that?**** Why shouldn’t we ask for accountability from actors/creators? Why shouldn’t we be able to—in a ostensibly “safe” space where we as fans have paid for our opinions to be respected—bring up concepts that are relevant to us without having to worry about judgment not only from the actors/creators we admire but, more importantly, from our fellow fans?

 _[**_ _**Visibility and representation in media is by no means limited to_ _MOGAI individuals_ _—race, nationality, class, (dis)abilities, et. al. need to continue to be discussed and advocated for among fans and between fans and actors/creators. There is also a great deal of intersectionality within fem/slash—particularly when it comes to interracial couples—but for the purposes of this essay I’m not expanding on_ _that_ _point. I do, however, want to make it clear that I am not forgetting/ignoring it either. I hope to engage with these points more thoroughly in future posts._ _]_

So I’m left wondering: When we as fandoms shame fem/slash, fem/slash fans, and the dialogues that emerge from them, what and who is it that we are really shaming?

—

 **P. S.** If you couldn’t tell, this is a topic that is not just of fandom interest to me; I have done a fair amount of academic research into these arguments too. The links I’ve provided here are just a small sampling of what’s out there—they should not be considered authoritative or even universally correct accounts. I hope that they will encourage further inquiry and help facilitate the drawing of your own conclusions. If you’d like any other suggestions on related articles/books to look into—or if you’d like to continue these dialogues—feel free to ask me!


End file.
